Month: September 2014

Tauihu principal Tui Ruwhiu has been selected for the Scrit to Screen 2014 FilmUp Mentorship Programme in the inauugral Script Development strand.

Tui will work with a writer and project under the mentorship of acting and directing coach and script editor Brita McVeigh, The strand will consist of observed script development sessions and reflective one-on-one sessions and discussions about his development practises and philosophies.

The programme runs from May to October 2014.

Script to Screen

Script to Screen’s mandate is to develop the craft and culture of storytelling for the screen in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

It has an extensive programme of events and initiatives for filmmakers, ranging from our grass roots programme of free regional storytelling workshops, to our Writers’ Room discussion events, through to our high-end professional development initiatives, FilmUp and Story Camp Aotearoa.

FilmUp

The FilmUp Mentorship Programme is an eight-month professional development programme of mentorships, group-work, and wrap-around support for writers, directors, producers and script editors. It supports and empowers up to eight practicing filmmakers each year to reach the next stage in their creative careers.

FilmUp provides tailored support to up-skill writers, directors and producers in their craft, career and creative process. Throughout the programme each participant receives 20 hours with an esteemed industry mentor, participates in group work & round tables, and receives wrap-around support.

Tauihu Shorts Film DIVE, written and directed by Matthew Saville and produced by Julia Parnell, was selected for the 41st Telluride Film Festival from 29 August to 1 September 2014.

Telluride is one of the most prestigious US festivals and is considered a filmmakers festival with its focus on the love of film.

RIDE received two screenings at Telluride and was critically acclaimed, which should bode well for for the director’s filmmaking future.

Tauihu Media look forward to more exciting festival news to come with this brilliant short film.

Mathew Saville

Actor-director Matthew Saville is of Kiwi and South African ancestry. After studying acting and writing, his play Kikia te Poa won acclaim. Alongside acting roles, Saville created kid’s show Kune’s Kitchen. His directing debut — short film Hitch Hike — thumbed its way to film festivals in Durban and Finland.

DIVE Long Synopsis

A year after the death of the love of his life, George has hit rock bottom. He’s disheveled, living in squalor and lacking hygiene. He can’t even hang himself properly. He’s in such a sorry state that this morning, in the bathroom, George discovers that his reflection has turned its back on him. Following a frustrating attempt to trick it into turning around, George angrily throws a cup at the mirror, which then smashes, revealing a portal to a mysterious dark water void.

Suited up in old diving gear, George enters the portal and traverses the abyss in search of himself. When he emerges back in the bathroom with his reflection in tow, a clumsy fight ensues between the two flabby men, coming to an abrupt end when George gives his reflection a swift swipe to the face with a dirty toilet brush. Face to face with what he has become, George’s reflection gives him just the push he needs to confront his wife’s death and begin to deal with his grief.

Tauihu Shorts

Tauihu Shorts is a New Zealand Film Commission Executive Producer POD run by Tauihu Media under the high-end Premiere Shorts programme. It is contracted to select and oversee the production of four short films from 2010 – 2012. Each short has an allocated budget of NZ$90,000 The Tauihu Shorts executive producers are Poata Eruera, Brad Haami and Tui Ruwhiu.

Telluride Film Festival

The bulk of the program is made up of new films, and the festival’s insistence on North American premieres has led to Telluride being associated with the discovery of a number of important new films and filmmakers.

Tauihu principal Tui Ruwhiu has been seconded to the board of Ngā Aho Whakaari, the body representing Maori in screen production.

Tui fills one of two roles vacated by Ngā Aho Whakaari members due to personal reasons.

Ngā Aho Whakaari

Ngā Aho Whakaari was established in 1996, after a series of hui called by Māori film and television practitioners concerned that Māori should be accurately represented in the development of Māori broadcasting by Government.

Many of the originators of Ngā Aho Whakaari were earlier involved with Te Manu Aute, which was an informal collective of Māori filmmakers that actively lobbied for stronger Māori representation in Government decision-making about Māori film making and broadcasting in the 1980’s.

Ngā Aho Whakaari has over recent years been primarily occupied with developments in the television sector and the structure of the board has reflected this. Tui was brought in to help bolster film experience and knowledge as well as take advantage of his marketing and communications background.